Chapter 8 - The Evidence
My hands shook as I opened the envelope.
Inside was a single photograph.
Noah standing beside Lena.
Taken two days earlier.
On the back:
Warehouse. Midnight.
I ran downstairs.
The front door opened.
An officer rushed inside.
“Where's your son?”
“He's gone.”
Every officer moved at once.
Within minutes, the neighborhood was surrounded.
The police searched every room.
Nothing.
Then one officer found a trail of muddy footprints near the back door.
They led to the driveway.
But there were no tire tracks.
Only footprints.
The detective stared at them.
“These aren't adult.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“Small.”
I looked down.
They were children's shoes.
Noah's shoes.
But they ended at the sidewalk.
Then the detective noticed something.
A toy car.
Blue.
The same one from earlier.
There was a note beneath it.
He was never taken.
I stared at the words.
“What does that mean?”
The detective didn't answer.
Then my phone rang.
Lena.
I answered immediately.
“Where is Noah?”
“With me.”
I nearly collapsed.
“Where?”
“Safe.”
“Let me talk to him.”
A pause.
Then Noah's voice.
“Daddy?”
I closed my eyes.
“Buddy.”
“I'm okay.”
“Where are you?”
“Mommy's here.”
I heard Lena.
“Daniel, listen carefully.”
“I am.”
“Go to the warehouse.”
“Why?”
“Because that's where this ends.”
“Who has Noah?”
“I do.”
“Then why are you hiding?”
“Because if I come home now, they'll find him.”
“Who?”
“The person who has been controlling everything.”
I looked at the detective.
He was recording the call.
“Give me a name.”
Lena whispered:
“Evan.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“He's working with someone.”
“Who?”
She hesitated.
Then:
“Someone you never suspected.”
My stomach tightened.
“Derek?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Lena said a name.
The same name from the ledger.
The person who had helped me rebuild my business after the warehouse fire.
My business mentor.
Thomas Hale.
A man who had been like a second father to me.
“No.”
“He ordered the fire.”
I couldn't speak.
“He paid Marcus to keep quiet.”
“Marcus was killed.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“Because he found the ledger.”
“And you found it?”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
“Inside the warehouse.”
“Why bring me there?”
“Because Thomas thinks you know where it is.”
“What does he want?”
“The records.”
“And Noah?”
“He wants Noah because Noah saw him.”
My heart stopped.
“What did Noah see?”
“He saw Thomas outside the house yesterday.”
I looked at the detective.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was trying to protect you.”
The call crackled.
Then I heard a man's voice in the background.
Thomas.
“Time's up.”
Lena gasped.
“Daniel, come now.”
The line ended.
The detective grabbed his jacket.
“We're going.”
I looked at him.
“What about Noah?”
“We find them both.”
Derek arrived twenty minutes later.
The detective told him everything.
Derek looked at me.
“You're not going without me.”
I remembered the threat.
I remembered the photograph.
But I also remembered the promise he made when Noah was born.
He showed up.
Always.
We drove toward the warehouse.
Police vehicles followed behind us.
At 11:56 PM, we arrived.
The old building stood silent in the darkness.
I held key 17.
The detective raised his flashlight.
We entered through the side door.
The smell of smoke still seemed trapped in the walls.
Derek led us toward the back.
There was a damaged shelving unit.
Behind it was the hidden door.
The key fit.
I turned it.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
Inside was a narrow staircase.
At the bottom stood a metal table.
On it sat a blue ledger.
Beside it was a phone.
The phone screen lit up.
A video began playing.
Thomas appeared.
He looked directly into the camera.
“Daniel, if you're watching this, you've finally come home.”
Then he smiled.
“But there's something you don't know.”
The screen changed.
It showed a hospital.
A newborn baby.
A nurse carrying him.
The date was four years earlier.
The same day Noah was born.
Then Thomas's voice returned.
“Your son wasn't the first child Lena tried to protect.”
May you like
I stared at the screen.
And then the video showed a second baby photo...
